Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Get up, Samantha,” Nick said, his voice gruff with sleep.
“I’m up.”
“No, you’re not. You’re on your way back to sleep.”
“Don’t act like you know me so well.”
He pinched her butt, making her startle. “Up.”
“Did you sleep?”
“Like a dead man. I need that same cocktail before bed tonight, too.”
“That cocktail is available to you anytime you need it.”
“Cocktail hour is my favorite time of day.”
“Every second with you is the best part of my day, especially if there’re some kids tossed in the mix. And I’m not going to see them this morning either.”
“You’ll have a whole week with them next week.”
“I can’t wait. I want to do everything—movies and crafts and baking and games and all the stuff I never have time to do.”
“We’ll do it all. I promise.”
“On that note, I gotta go tell Freddie he can stay in bed a little longer.”
“How come?”
Sam sat up, pushed her hair back from her face and reached for her phone. “Because I’ve got something I need him to do on the way in.” She put through the call to her partner.
“I’m up,” he said, sounding as grouchy as Sam felt.
“Good, but I’m calling to give you another forty-five minutes in bed.”
“Okay, bye.”
“Freddie! Listen. I want you to go to a hardware store near the McLeods’ and find out exactly what Mandi bought at two thirty on Sunday. Get me a receipt and security video of her in the store if they have it. I’ll have Carlucci text you the address.”
“Got it, will do.”
“Call it into the pit the minute you know and get it in writing from the store.”
“Okay.”
“Thanks. Set your alarm again.”
“Yes, Mom.”
Sam slapped her phone closed, called Carlucci and then headed for the shower.
“Damn, that’s a nice view,” Nick said from the bed.
She put some wiggle in her walk for his benefit.
Thirty minutes later, she headed out to work and was met on the ramp outside her front door by Vernon and a new woman.
“This is Belinda. She’s on your detail today. Belinda, this is Mrs. Cappuano.”
Sam shook hands with the tall, red-headed agent. “Nice to meet you, and I’m Lieutenant Holland for the next eight to ten hours.” She prayed it would be the lesser end of that range.
“Such an honor to meet you, Lieutenant. I’ve admired your career.”
“Thank you. I need a ride to work this one time.”
Vernon smiled. “As you know, we’d prefer to drive you.”
“You get your wish today.” While he held the door, Sam got in the back of the SUV, adrenaline zipping through her veins at the thought of maybe closing the McLeod case and perhaps returning some of the missing money to Ginny’s victims. Wouldn’t that be something?
To do something the Feds hadn’t been able to accomplish would be a huge victory for the MPD at a time when the department could use a win.
“When we get to HQ, go straight to the morgue entrance in the back please.” She cringed at the thought of her colleagues seeing her arriving in a Secret Service vehicle. Fortunately, she didn’t warrant an entire motorcade.
“Yes, ma’am,” Belinda said.
The media was still staked outside the building.
Didn’t they ever get tired of the futility of waiting for something that would never happen?
Not once in all the months that Nick had been vice president had Sam ever given them anything useful.
And yet they still showed up every day with hope in their hearts.
Better them than her. She’d rather chase murderers than a story that wasn’t going to happen. But hey, to each his or her own.
When they arrived at HQ, she ducked inside, hoping to avoid anything that got in the way of her plans for the morning. With two and a half hours until the meeting about Gonzo, she was hoping to use most of that time to sew up the McLeod case.
They were close. She needed the last few details to lock it up.
Carlucci and Dominguez were in the pit when she strolled in. “Ladies! It’s a fine day to solve a murder. What’ve you got for me?”
Dominguez, who was petite, with gorgeous brown skin, hair and eyes, turned to Sam, her eyes rimmed with red.
Sam stopped short. “What’s wrong?”
“Ugh, I’m so sorry to be crying at work. Boyfriend trouble.”
“Are you okay?”
“I will be once I show him the door.”
“That’s the way. Let me know if you need anything.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.”
“No worries. We’ve all been there. It’s the worst.”
“Yes, it is.” Gigi made a visible effort to shake it off. “In other news, we’ve got Mandi and Ken McLeod Jr. in the cooler, and their father has been calling every six minutes to demand we release them.”
“Is that right?”
“He’s been quite insistent,” Carlucci said. “He says we have no grounds to hold his children, and we need to let them go immediately, or he’s going to the media.”
“And you told him where they were found and where they were going?”
“We did,” Carlucci said. “He said they were going to the Bahamas for a long-planned trip for Thanksgiving.” The tall, blonde detective put two pieces of paper on the desk in front of Sam.
“Except we can prove they purchased the tickets yesterday afternoon, which takes the steam out of that explanation.”
“Very well done, as usual, ladies.” Sam loved the buzz of knowing they were closing in on murdering scumbags. “Cruz is going to call in as soon as he has anything from the hardware store.”
“The thing is,” Gigi said, “I’m still having trouble picturing one of them killing their own mother.”
“I think it was heat of the moment,” Sam said. “Maybe Mandi went to the house to have words with her mother about what she’d done to her life by scamming her friends’ parents, and when things escalated, she reached for the closest available thing and swung.”
“So you think she didn’t mean to kill her?” Gigi asked.
“I think maybe she wanted to,” Dani said, “but didn’t go there planning to do it.”
“That’s what I think, too,” Sam said. “Let’s see what she has to say. Put her in interview one and him in interview two.”
“Will do,” Gigi said.
After Dominguez left the pit to see to Sam’s orders, Sam glanced at Dani. “Is she okay?”
“She will be once she gets rid of him. I think he’s getting rough with her, but she denies it.”
“Do we need to have a talk with him?”
“I asked her that, and she pleaded with me to let her handle it, so I’m trying to do that. She promised me last night that this is it. She’s going to end it with him.”
“What do we know about him?”
“He’s got a sealed juvie record, but nothing as an adult. I did a deep dive on social media and picked up a vibe that he’s not a good guy when it comes to women. I tried to tell her that without letting her know I was looking into him. Fine line, you know?”
“I hear you. Thanks for watching out for her.”
“She’s like my baby sister. I want to stab that dude through the heart.”
“I got a rusty steak knife you can borrow anytime you need it.”
Dani laughed. “I may take you up on that.”
“Do I need to worry about her?” Sam asked.
“I’m keeping an eye on it. I’ll let you know if we need to get more involved.”
“Do that.”
“Thanks, LT.”
“I’m going to bring her in with me when I talk to Mandi,” Sam said. “Give her something else to think about.”
“Good call.”
“I’ll take you in with Ken.”
“Let her do them both. She needs it more than I do right now.”
“Sounds good. And keep being generous to your fellow officers, Carlucci. You’ll never regret it.”
“I’m lucky to work with awesome people. Gonzo looked great when he was here last night.”
“By all accounts, he’s doing very well.”
“I’m relieved to hear that.”
“Me, too. The poor guy has been through hell.”
“I heard they’re going to charge him…”
“Not if I can help it.”
Dani cracked up. “Why did I know you were going to say that?”
“Because you know bullshit when you see it, and so do I.”
“I’m so glad you’re all over that. Here’s the rest of what you need to know about our friends Mandi and Ken.”
Sam spent the next few minutes scanning the reports from the marshals who’d apprehended the siblings and reviewing financials for both of them.
Gigi returned a few minutes later. “They’re in the rooms.”
“Any talk of lawyers?”
“Not to me, and I didn’t see anything about that in the reports from the marshals. They both seem scared shitless.”
“Good. Come in with me, Dominguez.”
Her entire demeanor brightened. “Really?”
“Really. Let’s do it.”
Sam went into her office to grab her notebook and pen, put her hair up in her favorite clip and headed for interview one with Detective Dominguez. When they burst into the room, Mandi startled and then seemed to shrink into the orange jumpsuit. Her hands were shackled.
“Detective Dominguez, you can remove the cuffs from Ms. McLeod.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
While Dominguez took care of that, Sam stared at Mandi, taking pleasure in the way she wilted. Fluorescent lighting tended to make even the prettiest people look wan and sickly. “So, Mandi. We meet again.”
“I told you everything I know the first time.”
“Did you, though?”
“What does that mean?”
Sam took her time withdrawing the report on Mandi’s financials from one of the file folders and placed it on the table in front of Mandi.
“See the item we highlighted? That’s your card being used at a hardware store half a mile from your parents’ home on Sunday, when you told us you were…
” Even though she knew the list by heart, Sam opened her notebook, scrolled back a few pages and glanced at Mandi.
“At study group, napping and writing a paper all day. You said you never left campus. So which is it? Did you never leave campus, or did you make a trip to the hardware store near your parents’ home around the time your mother was killed? ”
“I… Um, I’d like to speak to a lawyer, please.”
Sam pushed the notebook and pen across the table to her. “Write down your lawyer’s name and number.”
“I, uh, I don’t know who to call. Our family’s lawyer was one of the people my mother scammed.”
“We’ll call the public defender’s office for you.”
Sam and Gigi got up and turned to leave the room.
“Wait. Where’re you going?”